Who does Ian love? His new puppies, of course! Ian has been tweeting the most adorable snapshots of the pups since they were born seven weeks ago. Their arrival was a bit of an unexpected surprise — Ian found out his rescued dog, Nietzsche, was pregnant when he took her to the vet to be spayed — but he has taken the litter in stride and makes a very proud grand-pup-parent. Check out his latest tweet!

“This is what I just came home to... Beauty of insane proportions. How could anyone hurt something like this...? Love my babies. A s—t ton,” Ian tweeted yesterday, along with a photo of two of the tiny puppies staring adorably into the camera. Can we have one (or all) of them?!

Ian is an avid animal lover. He found Nietzsche wandering near the TVD lot earlier this year, and took her home with him. Though he was excited to learn about Nietz’s pups, he is a strong advocate of getting one’s pets spayed or neutered to help control the cat and dog overpopulation that often leads to abandonment and/or death. Check out what he tweeted shortly after the pups’ birth: “Nietzsche's puppies are lucky! They'll all find homes but 9,000 dogs & cats are killed in U.S. shelters each day. Please spay/neuter #adopt,” he wrote.

We gotta love Ian’s commitment not only to his own pets, but to pets around the world. Keep up the advocacy, Ian!

Catch the next episode of The Vampire Diaries on Thursday, December 5 at 8 p.m. ET on the CW, followed by an all-new episode of Reign.